Well dear readers, it is not very often I quote from films, but the title of this post comes from The Devil Wears Prada. It seemed almost appropriate given the recent discussions between Ukraine and the President of PACE, Mr Mevlut Cavusoglu. Yes, I know – I’ll get my coat! As expected as Ukraine has […]

The much derided grain export quota system has been abandoned by the Ukrainian government with immediate effect. No doubt there will be much rejoicing amongst the agricultural companies as the opaque system allowed significant room for corruption. The government will now introduce export duties on grain at 9% for wheat, 12% for corn and 14% […]

Just to go against the popular sentiment once again dear readers, a French company has just won a business dispute in the Ukrainian courts. In the past year or two, foreign victories in Ukrainian courts seem to be more and more frequent despite the western media doing its very best to portray Ukraine as the […]

Well dear readers, what to make of this? That is the official statement from Cathy Ashton the EU High Representative over the detention of Yulia Tymoshenko by the PGO’s office in Ukraine via the courts. Whether Ms Tymoshenko is guilty or not remains to be seen, although given the international reputation of Kroll Inc upon […]

Oh dear. Dear readers, as a qualified Radiation Protection Supervisor (courtesy of RWE Nukem and the excellent tuition of Mr Nick Trafford) not to mention a Civil Engineer who knows a little bit about steel and concrete by design (and default), I am slightly dubious of the EU “Stress Tests” for the civil nuclear industry […]

As you are all quite well aware dear readers, the EU and Ukraine are well down the path of Visa-free travel negotiations. Road maps have been officially given and received, and I am informed that Ukraine will be over 90% of the way towards achieving the parameters of the road map by the end of […]

Now it is not often that a genuine British input into Ukraine, rather than a Ukrainian owned UK registered company, gets any mention here. I suspect those in HM Embassy Kyiv will have ticked numerous boxes in those absolutely pointless time and motion surveys/auditing surveys whilst assisting in pulling off the latest UK interests in […]

Well dear readers, giving you some advance warning, the annual Odessa Brides parade takes place on 29 May this year. Rather fortunate that the weather has turned for the better it seems. Anyway here is the itinerary should you want to either watch or avoid it: At 1 p.m., the participants of the Parade will […]

As some of you dear readers no doubt have considered adoption in Ukraine, certainly looking at my historical posts on the issue, the statistics seem to show there is an interest, the laws defining who can and cannot adopt a Ukrainian child/citizen have changed. No dramatic changes as far as foreigners are concerned – Interfax-Ukraine […]

The legal restrictions on foreign journalists entering Ukraine have gone. It seems that they can now report from Ukraine without accreditation unless they are reporting from a public event hosted by officials. At this point their accreditation may be requested prior to attending just as is the case for a Ukrainian journalist. At least that […]